Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed on Tuesday that the country’s northern city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, will be home to a new Tesla plant. The deal between the automaker and the Mexican government comes after many months of speculation. More details will be announced later this week.
Back in October of 2022, Elon Musk was seen in Monterrey alongside other high-level Tesla executives as well as the US ambassador to Mexico. Mexican state officials were also present so it seemed likely that a future Tesla factory could be the subject at hand.
Just last week though, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador voiced concerns about water scarcity in the region and signaled that he might block a Tesla factory over those concerns. Instead, the President wanted Musk to build the factory near a new business hub in Mexico City. His concerns were addressed during a phone call with Musk on Monday, says Bloomberg.
Read: Tesla May Soon Announce Plans For A Factory In Mexico
“He was very responsive, understanding our concerns and accepting our proposals,” AMLO said in a statement. “I want to thank Mr. Elon Musk for being very respectful, attentive, and understanding of the importance of addressing the problem of water scarcity.” The President also says that Tesla committed to utilizing recycled water throughout the entire manufacturing process.
More details about the plant, which we expect to be another Gigafactory, will come to light tomorrow during Tesla’s first Investor Day. It seems likely that the factory will be a significant piece of the automaker’s plan to ramp production to 20 million vehicles per year by the end of 2030. Accomplishing that goal will require the building of at least seven more gigafactories on top of the Mexican one according to Tesla.
Tesla is just the latest automaker to invest in Mexico. Ford builds the Mustang Mach-E in Cuautitlán, Mexico. BMW and General Motors also have plans to expand production in the country while Stellatis seems to be eyeing the state south of the border for similar reasons. We look forward to learning more about Tesla’s plan on Wednesday.
